Relief image printing masters are employed for high quality printing which generally require expensive or timeconsuming methods of preparation. A preferred type of printing masters are the rubber plates which can be formed by the use of molds, by the use of cutting and engraving of rubber blocks or by means of photoengraving. Photoengraving, which is one of the most widely used original pictorial image carrier methods for relief printing, can be divided into six main stages: (1) photography, (2) photomechanics, (3) etching, (4) finishing, (5) routing and blocking and (6) proofing.
This invention is directed to a means for more simply preparing printing masters having relief images which are also of high quality.